Indiana Jones and the skull thing

I was able to catch at the cinema Dr.Jones and the crystal skull thing. These days movies incorporating CGIs come out a dime a dozen. It would be interesting how the latest Indy embraces the latest cinema technologies knowing that the last installment was made when green screens and CGIs were totally unheard of.


Indy has become a cultural icon with most of the fans already in their late 20s-40s. As a kid, I took a particular liking for the Temple of Doom because we had it on Betamax. It was a movie I would watch over and over without losing my zeal for the kind of action only Indy could provide. Less horror more comedy, never dampers yet still retains the hold on-to-your seat viewing experience especially everytime you hear the accompanying ten-tenen-ten ten-tenen! You just know you're in for some frenetic action once that musical score plays.

While the use of technology was carefully woven since an overdose will likely turn away majority of the cult following given that their previous Indys never benefitted from CGIs, the ending(spoiler alert) was a downer. Indy plots were based on half facts/folklore plus half Lucas-Spielberg cinema genius but this one pushed the envelope towards craziness. Indy, the archaeologist, at the end unravelled aliens. Yes aliens! A slight reference to el dorado(documented folklore) and that's all the reality the fact junkie will ever get. The rest bordered on downright sci-fi. They may have initially tried to scrimp on the CGIs in their effort to preserve the old-school Indy but towards the latter part, there was CGI galore. CGIs were shooting wildly across the room. It did not help that the ending took whatever remains of the fans' loyalty when they showcased a scene where this huge flying saucer surfaced out of the el dorado ruins.

The Disney animated flick " the road to el dorado " may have done more justice to the cultural reference than did Dr. Jones.

Cate Blanchett is one hot mama. Her cheekbones, lips, everything about her face and how she not dies until the end of the story is reason enough for me to see the movie. I couldn't care less if the plot sucks. It didn't seem like the producers were trying to make us think otherwise anyway. It was " Here is Dr. Jones after so many years, buy the ticket and just enjoy the ride" with wanton disregard for preventing its abomination.

After Independence Day and Forrest Gump, CGI and green screens have been stretched and squeezed out of its useful life. The moviemakers had always rushed the cinema technology goose for the golden eggs churning out one CGI laden movie to another that everything has kinda gone stale. With the exception of LOTR, Indy falls short of detaching itself from the cheaper by the dozen CGI movies. But Indy will be Indy. Despite all the experimental tinkering, all they really had to do was call on Harrison Ford to show up, dress him with the brown pants and the hat, hand him a whip and it's Indy all over again.